


(Probably) 100% Actual Biology

by azhdarchidaen



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Aromantic Character, Aromanticism, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Gen, Warning for slight acephobia/internalized acephobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-14 00:17:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3401447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azhdarchidaen/pseuds/azhdarchidaen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako's family situation is probably best described as "half the Shatterdome"</p><p>...Which can definitely feel a little weird. But sometimes it means that just the right person is around to tell you just the right thing. Even if they end up having a slight tangent on sponges.</p><p>(Written For Aromantic Awareness Week 2015)</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Probably) 100% Actual Biology

**`February 11th, 2021` **

**`12:14.45 hrs` **

* * *

 

_Thwack! Smack!_

_Ka-THUNK!_

There was a smattering of applause in the Kwoon as Mako wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her opponent -- Dylan Feyley, another one of the teens training as part of the Jaeger program -- looked up from the floor. He was shocked for a moment, then grinned at her, still winded-looking.

“Nice one,” he panted. She only nodded and extended her hand to him. As he took it, he opened his mouth again “Hey, Mako, do you have a--”

But before he could finish, the Ranger overseeing the combat session clapped her hands together. “Yes, excellent Miss Mori. I think we’ll wrap it up with that; none of you like it much when I keep you from lunch.”

At that, a number of the recruits left the room then and there, eager to make it down to the mess before it got crowded. When Jaeger Academy sessions ended up practicing in Shatterdomes ( _...which was starting to happen more and more often,_ she thought with a frown as she remembered Pentecost’s frustration the other night over further funding cuts) that happened pretty quickly.

She didn’t hate everything about it, of course. It was nice to be around some of the older Rangers, engineers, and scientists -- she considered a lot of them to be as close as family at this point. And being in the full Shatterdome complex gave her more places to slip away when she wanted to.

...Like right now.

“Hey, Mako!” came Dylan’s voice again. She simply slowly kept putting her shoes back on, wondering if he’d believe she hadn’t heard him. She was pretty sure she knew exactly what he’d hoped to ask her earlier, and if it was at all possible, she’d rather like to avoid it.

Well, for as long as it was possible.

Her silent prayers were apparently answered, as a small group of Dylan’s friends converged on him right about the time she slipped out the door, still acting as though she hadn’t noticed a thing. And the minute she stepped out safely into the hall, she pointedly started walking as quickly as she could -- away from the cafeteria. 

It was then and there that she made a decision. Probably a somewhat inadvisable one, but a decision nonetheless. Even if she kept walking in this direction, as soon as Dylan broke free from his friends, he’d see her in the hall just by turning his head. Which meant that to try to procrastinate further on having to make any uncomfortable decisions, it might make sense to duck into a room on the side of it.

Quickly, she did a mental scan through her options -- there was the breakroom the Rangers sometimes used, but it was probably full of people at lunchtime… some halls of lockers, but come to think of it, she didn’t know where Dylan was keeping his stuff while they were at the Shatterdome, and that option might risk running into him anyway… which meant…

She bit her lip. The only room within quick walking distance of here was the K-Science lab.

Well… reclusive as they could get at times, even Dr. Gottlieb and Dr. Geiszler often had their meals elsewhere in the Shatterdome. Probably mostly because one half of the room was a biohazard disaster zone. Maybe if she timed it right she could be in and out before one of them got back and asked her any questions.

She looked backwards, nervously, wondering how much time she even had to make up her mind. Deciding it wasn’t enough, she dashed to the door of the lab and poked her head inside.

Empty.

_Perfect._

Mako slipped into the room carefully, hesitated for a moment, then ducked behind a desk. She figured she could stay there for a little while even if anyone passed the room in the hall, and then sneak out after a reasonable amount of time.

She was doing some mental calculations to figure out how long said reasonable interval might be when there was a sound at the door. Before she could react, there was a loud thud and a shout from somewhere across the room -- someone had kicked a piece of furniture in frustration, then exclaimed “Dammit!”

...And given that his voice was pretty unmistakable, “someone” was probably Dr. Geiszler.

Her suspicions were supported by a crashing sound, followed by another, louder _“Dammit!”_

Mako idly wondered what exactly was wrong as she held her breath, hoping whatever it was had distracted the scientist enough that she might still be able to slip out unnoticed. But in her single-minded determination, she neglected to notice her foot was slipping as she crouched awkwardly. Before she could do a thing about it, she’d accidentally kicked a box nearby on the floor.

It didn’t make much noise, but it was enough.

“Hermann?” Dr. Geiszler said suddenly, “That you?”

He paused.

“...Um… I totally didn’t just knock… whatever that glass thing was that better not have been that important onto the floor when I kicked the desk. Didn’t happen.”

When no one responded, he tried again.

“Hermann? Man, how mad _are_ you?”

Behind the other desk, Mako frowned. She had two choices: stay quiet and hope he gave up looking...

...Or stand up, make herself known, and try to give an abbreviated version of her story. Minus… certain details. 

She sighed. She knew what the right course of action was, and she hated to think what would happen if she behaved otherwise and Pentecost still found out. Not that he’d be very angry with her for something like “sneaking around” -- she just didn’t want to disappoint him. The best thing was probably to be honest.

To a point.

Slowly, she stood up. “It’s not Dr. Gottlieb, sir,” she said. “It was just me.”

Dr. Geiszler was on the floor, sweeping up some shards of glass with his hands (...she decided… not to mention that particular safety violation…). When he heard her voice, he looked up in confusion. “Mak-?” 

“ _Shhhhhh_!” she cut him off. There were a lot of words she’d use to describe the scientist, but “quiet” wasn’t one of them. If Dylan were still in earshot… 

To his credit, Dr Geiszler lowered his voice as much as could ever be expected of him as he stood up, dumping the glass shards on the desk behind him. “Mako?” he asked. “What are you doing in here?”

She hung her head, all logical explanations but the real one fleeing from her mind.

“Hiding,” she said quietly.

“....Hiding?”

Mako bit her lip, wondering how much information he’d be satisfied by. “I just wanted to get away from… from some of the other recruits. Just for a moment.”

“In here?” he said.

“Well, it was the closest..”

Dr. Geiszler got a slightly uncharacteristic look of concern on his face. “Mako…” he said. “Are some of them _bullying_ you?”

“No, no!” she said quickly. “Nothing like that, I just--” 

Before she could continue objecting, he’d pulled up a chair. As he patted the seat, motioning for her to sit down, he dragged over another of his own by awkwardly extending a leg to grab it with his foot.

“Honestly,” she said, still decidedly standing. “No one is--”

“Kid,” Dr Geiszler said, leaning over the back of the chair he’d grabbed for himself to look at her, “there are two reasons someone your age hides -- one, they’re doing something they shouldn’t and don’t wanna get caught; or two, they’re trying to keep someone, uh... not-so-great from finding them. Trust me, I’ve done both. But seeing as I don’t think you’ve got a dishonest bone in your body, I’m thinking my experience with the latter might be more helpful.”

She frowned. “You mean… when you were younger you…?”

“What did you think I had, friends?” He said it so bluntly Mako was a little taken aback, and almost missed the undertone that was probably a little sadder than the scientist had intended.

But hiding it or no, he just kept plowing through it. “But we won't get into that -- I’m not the one who was just hiding under a desk.”

He pushed the chair forward again. Mako sighed, sinking into it.

“It’s… kind of a long story,” she said. “Will you promise not to tell anyone if I do?”

“You promise not to tell Hermann I broke his thing-y?”

Mako looked at him skeptically. “He’s going to know it was you.”

“It’s the… principle of the thing. As long as no one backs it up, I can deny it.”

“Then I promise,” Mako said.

“Okay, same. Spill.”

Mako took a deep breath. “Sometimes…” she said slowly “On holidays some of the Jaeger Academy class will sneak around to set up a get-together in someone’s dorm room. They will get food and… and… things.”

“...Alcohol? Man that’s pretty gutsy. Props.”

Mako blinked at him.

“Hey,” he said, putting his hands up, “I said, I’m not telling. You’re talking to someone who’s hidden vodka in a centrifuge. No judgement.”

“...What?”

“Grad school. Continue.”

“Well,” she said, slowly, “Some of them are planning on doing it very soon, for Valentine’s Day. And given the nature of the holiday they are asking “dates” of sorts and…” she sighed, knowing full well she probably sounded ridiculous and hoping that Dr. Geiszler could fill in the blanks enough for her not to have to finish.

But apparently he couldn’t.

“...And what?” he said. “You don’t wanna risk getting caught at the party? I mean, I get it with your... family situation I guess, but you could just tell them that. You don’t have to... avoid them or something.”

“No!” she said quickly. “There’s a boy that’s trying to ask me, but I don’t want to go with him in the first place!”

Dr. Geiszler looked 100% like a fish out of water at this point. “Then… tell him no?” he said.

“I _can’t_ ,” Mako said.

“...I mean, look, if he gives you a hard time for it I’m pretty sure you’ve got the connections to get him in trouble pretty quickly, you could--”

Mako felt the one thing she’d never told anyone starting to bubble up inside her. Did she really trust Dr. Geiszler enough to finally say it to someone? She was pretty sure he’d keep his word, if for no reason other than the fact that only a small number of people listened to him in the first place. Maybe she could finally see if it helped a little to get it off her chest…

“--I can’t tell him ‘no’ because people might _find out_!” she burst out quickly.  “Everybody else seems to like him, and think he’s wonderful, and I think he’s nice, but… not that way? And there are other girls already who I think are jealous and I’m scared that if I say 'no' they’ll find out!”

“...Find...out?”

Mako sighed, her heart beating nervously. Adrenaline, probably. “Find out that I don’t actually like boys,” she mumbled quietly.

“Don’t… Mako did you think I was gonna judge you for _that_?” 

“Dr. Geiszler, you don’t understand!” she said, realizing she was starting to get a little tearful. She wasn’t even sure she could hide that. “I don’t like girls either, or… or anyone else. I think something’s wrong with me -- I don’t like _anybody_.”

She buried her face in her arms, hoping that her first time admitting to someone that something was clearly completely wrong with her hadn’t gone too badly. Maybe it wouldn’t be as much of a failure as much as she was always scared of it being. But a few moments later, she just felt a surprisingly gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Hey hey _hey_ … Mako…”

She looked up to see Dr. Geiszler out of his chair, rubbing her shoulder gently and looking the exact opposite of judgemental. More like sympathetic and incredibly flustered. The latter scared her a little, until she thought through the fact that she was talking to a man whose social skills were renowned for being a bit sub-par, and who could only seem to deal with certain social cues after filing away a lot of information on them. “Crying teenage girls” was probably one he didn’t have much on.

Out of his depth or no, Mako found herself surprisingly comforted just by the fact that he wasn’t freaking out about her being "broken". Instead, he knelt down to look her in the eyes. He spoke more slowly than she thought she’d even heard him before. “Mako, calm down, okay? Do… do you think there’s something _wrong_ with that?”

She wiped her eyes slightly. “Well… doesn’t everybody else?”

“Not _everybody_ ,” he said, laughing a little. She wasn’t exactly sure what was so funny about this -- but figured he still meant well.

“But they _do!”_ She said. “It’s nice of you to say that, but I don’t think it will be any more helpful to me in the long run than… than…”

 _...than hiding from boys who want to date you in the K-Science lab,_ her brain finished.

Which was why Dr. Geiszler’s next words surprised her.

“Well, _I_ don’t”

She sniffed in surprised, eyes widening a little. “...You’re joking?”

“Do you really think I’d joke with you when you’re like this?”

She shook her head, wiping her eyes again. Dr. Geiszler slowly started to stand, talking as he did so.

“Mako, has anyone ever mentioned the words ‘aromantic’ or ‘asexual’ to you?” he said.

“...The second one, I think, but only when talking about--”

“--Yeah, um, sponges and stuff. That’s not the one I’m talking about though. Didn’t keep me from doing a thesis on _Spongilla lacustris_ back in grad school, because  reproduction in freshwater sponges is actually pretty cool... but take it from a biologist, they’re just homonyms.

She looked at him, confused, and he handwaved the tangent.

“They’re orientations, Mako. Just like being gay or straight or bi or anything else. But instead of meaning you’re attracted to certain or all genders, they mean… well… you’re not.”

“Not… ever?”” she said.

“Well, I mean, it’s a spectrum. But yeah, um, it scoops up all the “nevers” and the “sometimeses” and the “only when I’m really super close to someones” and sort packages them all together. And there are definitely some “nevers” in there, on one of the far ends.”

“...I think I’m on that end” she said quietly.

Dr. Geiszler just laughed. “Same.”

Mako smiled a little, and reached out to give him a hug -- she knew he was the type to spring affection on other people without warning, and probably would appreciate it. But he still seemed a little surprised.

“Hey, there, you okay?” he said.

It was her turn to laugh. “Yes, apparently I am!”

He grinned at her. “Darn right. And if anybody doesn’t respect it, that’s their problem.”

“Do you really think they won’t?” Mako asked, pulling away.

“Sometimes,” he admitted. “I’ve had some people tell me it’s all in my head, that it’s probably just my meds, that I just haven’t tried the right person yet… and there was one particularly... difficult... occasion where I’m pretty sure someone yelled that I’d _“probably rather go fuck an alien”_ but uh… again? Their problem, right? I can safely say I am 100% biologically sound.”  He frowned. “Actually, I can’t say that at all. But my sexuality is, at least.” 

Mako laughed. But she sobered just a second afterwards. “I… don’t know if I want to tell everybody yet then,” she sighed.

“Hey, that’s cool,” he said. “Don’t feel like you have to, ‘kay? It’s your choice. Remember, I promised.”

“Oh!” she said quickly. “I didn’t think _you_ would tell! I just…”

“...still don’t feel like you’re ready to tell Mr. Loveboat no?”

Mako nodded glumly. “Dylan. His name s Dylan.”

“Alright,” Dr. Geiszler said, putting a hand to his chin. “In that case, Mako Mori, I have some incredibly disappointing news for you.”

Mako looked at him funny, wondering what sort of a tangent he was about to go off on now. She knew the scientist well enough to doubt he was being literal... but also well enough that all other bets were off.

“A little less than a week from now,” he said. “I’m supposed to get a shipment of assorted kaiju viscera from Pitcairn for experimentation. Seeing as I accidentally destroyed the last ones in an experiment -- the reaction to which I think you heard before you showed yourself.”

She nodded sheepishly.

“I… may or may not have strategically scheduled said shipment to arrive on, uh, a holiday I’m not particularly fond of. You know, as a distraction,” he continued. “And I suppose I could get the samples to the lab myself, but it tends to go quicker when I’ve got help. Seeing as you’re clearly the only other person in this whole Shatterdome who can be trusted with moving a couple of containers of kaiju guts, I’m afraid the next time you see… Romeo or whatever his name was… you’re going to have to tell him that crackpot Dr. Geiszler somehow roped you into helping him. No way around it, unfortunately.”

Mako felt a smile creeping across her face. “Do you think he’ll believe me?”

“If he doesn’t, just send him to me for proof. It’ll work, I promise. I’m terrifying.” As he spoke, Dr. Geiszler grabbed a scalpel of his from the desk behind them and jabbed the air it, looking generally ridiculous.

“This is starting to sound a bit like a _‘my mom won’t let me’_ excuse…” she said.

“Yes, exactly,” Dr. Geiszler said. “I am now your mother. Legally. Hermann will be horrified. 

She laughed.

“Really though,” he said. “If he gives you a hard time....” There was a vaguely ominous squishing noise as scalpel made contact with a nearby kaiju sample -- probably the last remaining of the old ones.

“I will,” Mako said. “And… thank you.”

Dr. Geiszler grinned at her. “No problem.”

She was almost out the door when he made another interjection -- “Oh, and Mako!”

She turned to look back at him. “Yes?”

“With the two of us working, the move should only take… I dunno, an hour? Tops? So, uh, no need to tell Casanova, but if you wanna stay busy the rest of the night, the work with the ‘specimens’ might involve commandeering Hermann’s blackboard with a tarp and using the projector Tendo and I rigged up from the scrap heap for a Star Wars marathon or something.”

Mako blinked. “I’ve… never seen Star Wars,” she said slowly.

“In that case, it’s _definitely_ gonna involve the projector. And possibly popcorn.”

“I will look forward to it,” she said, smiling a little again.

And for the first time in her life, when she said that to someone about Valentine’s Day, she actually meant it.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> While fanworks featuring a young Mako + K-Scientists actually seem to be fairly popular in the fandom, there just isn't enough info out there to pin down a super-precise timeline or location to ensure an encounter could be 100% canonical. 
> 
> I chose 2021, 4 years before the movie took place, because it was inching closer to the downsizing of the Jaeger program (mentioned a few times in the fic, and explaining why the likelihood of Mako and Newt being in the same Shatterdome might have increased), but still gave us a fairly young (16 year-old) Mako. In any case, I think it's implied that Pentecost visited a number of Shatterdomes during his time in the PPDC, and Mako with him, so as long as it fell reasonably within Newt's PPDC service it made sense. referencing Hermann and Tendo possibly less so, but I'm pretty sure the whole fandom's going to act like they could all have been around until it's proven otherwise.
> 
> Mako and Newt are FAR from the only Pacific Rim characters I headcanon on the aro/ace spectrum (in fact I considered having Newt reference some others in the story, until I decided I was kind of uncomfortable with the idea of making a character out anyone without them around, even to reassure another ace person), but I chose to write this story with the two of them because they're the main two I interpret as being 100% aromantic and asexual, and I liked the idea of writing a somewhat older character helping "mentor" a younger one (Newt being a good 15 years older than her.)


End file.
